Ardie Savea on Ruben Love: 'There's something special about that boy'

Ardie Savea is backing Ruben Love to perform in the 25-year-old’s first start at No.10 for the All Blacks, suggesting there is real Test star potential in his former Hurricanes teammate.

The new All Blacks captain addressed the media on the eve of New Zealand’s first Test of the year and, when prompted, shared that he had approached Love early in the week to check in on the headspace he was in.

Just two weeks removed from a Man of the Match performance in a dominant Super Rugby Pacific final, Love assured Savea he was ready for this next chapter in his rugby journey.

“There’s something special about that boy,” Savea said. “He doesn’t need any help. I go to him and say, ‘you sweet?’ he said ‘I’m good.’ You’ve just got to leave space for those boys to do their thing.”

Love has played just 179 minutes of rugby in the Test arena thus far in his young career, 7,772 fewer than his teammate and last year’s preferred No.10, Beauden Barrett, but has been backed to deliver the “optimistic” game plan new head coach Dave Rennie is eager to implement.

In Savea’s words, Rennie “wants us to play with optimism, but also with a bit of brutality. He’s big on effort, so for us, those are the rock-solid foundations that we need to go out there and perform.”

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That performance will be challenged by a France team packed with Champions Cup winners and rising stars, and despite the absence of nine Top 14 finalists who will join the team next week in Australia, Savea says France remains a team that commands huge respect.

The captain echoed assistant coach Neil Barnes’ sentiment from earlier in the week when asked what he made of suggestions that it was a ‘B’ team coming his way on Saturday.

“I think it’s rubbish,” Savea responded. “The French are the French. If you look at their depth and their competition, they’ve got world-class players from one to 100 in their top players. It doesn’t matter what team they bring out.

“The players they’ve got now, Marko (Gazzotti) and Pierre (Bochaton), both playing at Bordeaux, they’ve had massive experience, and with Oscar (Jegou), their loose trio is outstanding. We understand that, but also looking forward to the challenge.”

Savea has previous experience filling in as captain and said he believes the role brings out the best in him. He shared his goals as the team’s leader.

“I think of the past leaders and past captains that have had a huge impact on me, and it’s making me feel seen, it’s giving me space to lead, it’s giving me opportunities to just be my authentic self. So for me, it’s just about encouraging and empowering my teammates and the people within this legacy to be better; mainly better men, and hopefully, better players from that.”

That message will be perhaps most relevant for the two debutants that have been named on the bench for Saturday night: Xavier Numia and Fehi Fineanganofo. Savea said his message for the Hurricanes duo was simple.

“They’ve been outstanding all year. Yes, the Test arena’s different, but they got here because of who they are. So I just encourage them to be themselves, and do their job.”

While the All Blacks hold a strong cultural presence within New Zealand, and Savea’s role as captain therefore amplifies his prominence as a public figure in the country, the 32-year-old reflected on his newfound responsibility as merely a progression of the principles he was raised on.

“It’s service. I’ve grown up that way, serving my parents, serving the people and the community around me, and that’s the thing that I feel I can do in this team: serve my people, the players and the management, and we go from there.”